''Forbidden Island'' is a 1959 American

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

crime film directed by Charles B. Griffith starring Jon Hall. It was his debut as director, although he had directed second unit on ''

Attack of the Crab Monsters Attack may refer to: Warfare and combat * Offensive (military) * Charge (warfare) * Attack (fencing) * Strike (attack) * Attack (computing) * Attack aircraft Books and publishing * ''The Attack'' (novel), a book * ''Attack No. 1'', comic an ...

''. A young

Don Preston Donald Ward Preston (born September 21, 1932) is an American jazz and rock keyboardist. He is known for working with Frank Zappa from the mid 1960s to the mid 1970s. Biography Preston was born into a family of musicians in Detroit and began st ...

from the

Mothers of Invention The Mothers of Invention (also known as The Mothers) was an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an R&B band ...

appeared in this film.

Plot

A freelance frogman (Jon Hall) is hired by a psychotic treasure hunter to recover an emerald that went down in a shipwreck.

Cast

* Jon Hall as Dave Courtney * Nan Adams as Joanne Godfrey * John Farrow as Edward Stuart Godfrey *

Jonathan Haze Jonathan Haze (born Jack Schachter; April 1, 1929) is an American actor, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in Roger Corman films, especially the 1960 black comedy cult classic, '' The Little Shop of Horrors'', in which he ...

as Jack Mautner * Greigh Phillips as Dean Pike * Dave "Howdy" Peters as Fermin Fry * Tookie Evans as Raul Estoril *

Martin Denny Martin Denny (April 10, 1911 – March 2, 2005) was an American pianist and composer best known as the "father of exotica." In a long career that saw him performing up to 3 weeks prior to his death, he toured the world popularizing his brand of l ...

as Marty * Bob La Varre as Cal Priest * Bill Anderson as Mike * Abraham Kaluna as Abe

Production

Griffith had signed with Columbia under a five-film writer-producer-director contract; he ended up only making two of them, the other being '' Ghost of the China Sea'', which he did not direct. "They were really terrible," he recalled later. "It stopped me for twenty years from ever directing again. They were really rank. You see, I got chicken and started to write very safely within a formula to please the major studios, and of course, you can't do that."Dennis Fischer, 'Charles B. Griffith: Not of this Earth', McGilligan, Patrick. Ed ''Backstory 3: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 60s'' Berkeley: University of California Press, c1997 1997
retrieved 22 June 2012 The film was shot mostly on location in Hawaii.
accessed 26 June 2012 Filming started November 4, 1957. Photos have been found in the archives of Silver Springs State Park, Florida, indicating that some scenes were filmed there. Rebecca Welles was originally cast in the lead role but had to pull out and was replaced by Nan Adams. "I had an early chance to direct but was too dumb to know that I had to work with the editor," Griffith said later. "They told me I had an Oscar-winning editor; I told them we needed an Oscar-winning firestarter." The two films were meant to cost $150,000. ''Forbidden Island'' was meant to be filmed in ten days but Griffith went over schedule. According to ''Variety'' "Columbia noted that Griffith seemed to be having continuing production difficulties" and sent out one of its contract directors, Fred Sears, to direct the second movie.

References

External links

*
''Forbidden Island''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of A ...

''Forbidden Island Movie Poster''

''Forbidden Island in ʻColumbia Pictures Horrorʻ by Michael R. Pitts at Google Books''Review of movie
at Variety {{Charles B. Griffith 1959 adventure films Films about treasure hunting Underwater action films Films directed by Charles B. Griffith Films with screenplays by Charles B. Griffith 1950s English-language films American adventure films American crime films 1950s American films